Behaviorism Versus Cognitivism

Prior to engaging in this discussion, read Chapters One and Two from your text, watch the B.F. Skinner – Operant Conditioning and Free Will and the How to Understand Cognitive Psychology videos, and review any relevant Instructor Guidance. This guidance can be very helpful as it may include strategies that support your preferred learning. It is important to refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion posts will be evaluated.


Maze


For this activity:

  • Compare and contrast the psychological “camps” of Behaviorism and Cognitivism based on scholarly materials including the required resources for this week.
  • Analyze how each learning theory applies to real-life situations, and provide two examples for each.
    • Behaviorism example – Every time the chickens get on the porch, they are sprayed with water. After time, the chickens learn not to be on the porch.
  • Demonstrate your further understanding of these theoretical perspectives by including implications to learning posed by each theory.
  • Based on the evidence presented in this week’s resources, what are the major strengths and weaknesses of each theory in relation to how we learn? In your comparison, do you see where one type of training might work better than the other based on situations (e.g., differing age groups, differing learning abilities, or differing skill level/rigor)?
  • Apply basic research methods to your comparison by providing empirically based research findings or other reliable examples to support your statements. View this great tutorial provided by the Ashford University Library which will show you how to find scholarly articles and how to assess the scholarly quality of the resource.
  • Be sure to cite all your references in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.